Bewitching Bitters

Title: Bewitching Bitters
Author: Annabel Chase
Published: January 21, 2026 by Storm Publishing
Format: Kindle, 196 Pages
Genre: Paranormal
Series: Midlife Magic Cocktail Club #2

Blurb: Kate Golden has built a successful career helping others become their best selves. But when Kate inherits magical powers from the late Inga Paulsen, the spell that holds her carefully controlled world together begins to unravel.

What starts with a mysterious cocktail recipe from an enchanted book quickly spirals into disaster. A grotesque wart sprouts on her chin, her hair turns shocking pink and her perfect life crumbles in the most public way possible. Desperate to regain control, Kate experiments with magical ingredients in her kitchen. But magic has its own agenda, and every spell she attempts only makes things worse.

With the support of her fellow witches in the cocktail club, Kate is forced to surrender control and trust in powers beyond her understanding. Sometimes finding the best version of yourself means embracing the magic in life’s messy moments.

My Opinion: I’m honestly not sure what happened here. The first book in the series, Magic Uncorked, had that warm, cozy, lightly witchy feel, the kind of paranormal comfort read that feels like settling into a cushy armchair with a mug of something spiced. So, I went into Bewitching Bitters expecting more of that same charm. Instead, the vibe shifted, and not in a way that worked for me.

There’s a sharper edge to this second book, a kind of negative bite that kept pulling me out of the story. I understand that Kate Golden, our newbie witch, is supposed to be challenged with growth arcs, magical mishaps, all that good stuff, but the tone didn’t land the same way. And Kate herself… well, she made it tough. Her relentless drive to be perfect, paired with the constant whining, had me counting pages and quietly wishing she’d take a breath, have a snack, and maybe stop trying to win Witch Student of the Year.

It’s hard to connect with a protagonist who feels closed off and prickly in all the wrong ways. I kept hoping she’d soften or surprise me, but instead I found myself missing the warmth and camaraderie that made the first book sparkle.

I’m holding out hope, though. This series centers on a group of women—the Midlife Magic Cocktail Club—and Kate is just one of them. Maybe the next woman’s story will bring back that inviting, cozy paranormal feel that hooked me in the first place. I’m ready for a different flavor in the next installment, preferably one with a little less bitterness and a lot more charm.

The Someday Garden

Title: The Someday Garden
Author: Ashley Poston
Published: June 16, 2026 by Berkley
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
Genre: Paranormal

Blurb: When Sophie Drear plans her escape to coastal Maine for the summer—for a temporary job revitalizing the storied grounds at Lilymoor House—she doesn’t expect to fall in love.

But she does: With the beguiling land, the fragrant flowers, and the towering hedge maze. With the quirky staff and the enigmatic woman who owns the place.

And then, the door appears. Never in the same place twice, it leads her to a secret, and unfinished, garden with a frustrated thundercloud of a man trapped inside.

This mysterious garden is not the only sign that the future of Lilymoor is unstable: the foliage resists Sophie’s careful nurturing, vines threaten to strangle the hedges, and the manor’s owner has wild ideas about who will take over when she retires—including her inconveniently attractive nephew who is also there just for the summer.

Despite herself, Sophie has come to care for the residents of Lilymoor just as much as she cares for its grounds. With the help of one man on the outside of the secret garden, and one man on the inside, she might be the only person who can figure out exactly what Lilymoor needs to bloom once more.

My Opinion: This novel and I got off to a slow shuffle together; one of those starts where you keep thinking, “Okay, any minute now…” It’s easy enough to follow, almost too simplistic, but I kept waiting for that spark, that little narrative jolt that tells you you’re in for a good ramble down a garden path. Instead, I found myself watching the pages drift by where nothing much happens.

Still, there are bright spots. How can you not love a character who consults a Magic 8 Ball like it’s a trusted life coach? At first, it feels like a quirky personality trait, but later you realize those little plastic prophecies carry emotional weight. It’s one of the few touches that made me sit up a bit straighter and think, “Oh, that’s why this round sphere matters.”

Her fixation on the loss of a friend is understandable, though the book circles that grief so often it starts to feel like déjà vu. And the caramel colored eyes—my goodness. A bit overdone to say the least.

The pacing doesn’t help. A third of the way in, I was still waiting for the story to find its footing. When things finally begin to click into place, it’s more of a gentle nudge than a satisfying snap. The magical secret garden should have been a moment of wonder, but instead I found myself unsure why or how it all worked. The book gestures toward enchantment without fully committing to its logic.

There are a few graphic moments that might catch some readers off guard, especially given the otherwise soft, whimsical tone. And yes, there are funny bits, where Poston has a knack for wry humor and duck antics, but they’re scattered too thinly to lift the overall mood.

I think part of my restlessness came from having read The Seven Year Slip first. That book had a twist that made the whole journey feel worthwhile, like the author had been quietly laying breadcrumbs the entire time. With The Someday Garden, I kept waiting for that same “ah ha” moment, the one that makes you grateful you stuck around. It never arrived. Instead, I closed the book thinking, “Well… I guess that was ok,” which is never the reaction you hope for when a story promises magic.

In the end, it’s a gentle, occasionally charming read that just never quite delivered what it could have been.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

Title: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
Author: Kim Michele Richardson
Published: May 7, 2019 by Sourcebooks Landmark
Format: Paperback, 309 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Series: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek #1

Blurb: In 1936, tucked deep into the woods of Troublesome Creek, KY, lives blue-skinned 19-year-old Cussy Carter, the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry.

The lonely young Appalachian woman joins the historical Pack Horse Library Project of Kentucky and becomes a librarian, riding across slippery creek beds and up treacherous mountains on her faithful mule to deliver books and other reading material to the impoverished hill people of Eastern Kentucky.

Along her dangerous route, Cussy, known to the mountain folk as Bluet, confronts those suspicious of her damselfly-blue skin and the government's new book program. She befriends hardscrabble and complex fellow Kentuckians, and is fiercely determined to bring comfort and joy, instill literacy, and give to those who have nothing, a bookly respite, a fleeting retreat to faraway lands.

My Opinion: This novel surprised me in the best way. The kind of surprise where you pause mid chapter thinking, “How did I not know this?” I’d heard whispers years ago about the Blue People of Kentucky, but I’d filed it away as one of those half mythical Appalachian tales people repeat without really knowing the truth. So, imagine my delight (and a little embarrassment) when I learned it wasn’t folklore at all but a real genetic condition, wrapped in generations of misunderstanding and prejudice. And the kicker? They were lumped into the “colored” category too, yet another piece of American history that somehow never made it into any classroom.

Then there are the Pack Horse Librarians—the Bookwomen—riding up and down those rugged hills delivering stories, news, and connection to families who had almost nothing else. I had never heard of them before this book, which feels wild considering how essential their work was. It makes perfect sense once you’re in the thick of the story when you consider how books were a lifeline; of course, women stepped into that gap, and yet history barely bothered to mention them.

This is exactly why I love historical fiction when it’s done with care. There’s a particular joy in feeling an author’s research humming beneath the narrative, not heavy handed, not textbook dry, but alive. You get the sense that Richardson dug deep, found the threads history left behind, and stitched them into something that feels both intimate and illuminating. It’s the kind of reading experience where you walk away with a fuller heart and a fuller mind.

And here’s the funny part: this book had been sitting on my shelf for ages, quietly waiting for the right time. When I finally picked it up, I didn’t even realize it was the first in a duology. So now, naturally, the second book has muscled its way onto my next book shopping list. Some stories just insist on being seen.

Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage

Title: Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage
Author: Belle Burden
Published: January 13, 2026 by The Dial Press
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
Genre: Memoir

Blurb: In March 2020, Belle Burden was safe and secure with her family at their house on Martha’s Vineyard, navigating the early days of the pandemic together—building fires in the late afternoons, drinking whisky sours, making roast chicken. Then, with no warning or explanation, her husband of twenty years announced that he was leaving her. Overnight, her caring, steady partner became a man she hardly recognized. He exited his life with her like an actor shrugging off a costume.

In Strangers, Burden revisits her marriage, searching for clues that her husband was not who she always thought he was. As she examines her relationship through a new lens, she reckons with her own family history and the lessons she intuited about how a woman is expected to behave in the face of betrayal. Through all of it, she is transformed. The discreet, compliant woman she once was—someone nicknamed “Belle the Good”—gives way to someone braver, someone determined to use her voice.

With unflinching honesty and profound grace, Burden charts a path through heartbreak to show the power of a woman who refuses to give up on love. Strangers is a stunning, deeply moving, compulsively readable memoir heralding the arrival of a thrilling new literary talent.

My Opinion: Every divorced woman who wasn’t the one making the choice will find a piece of herself tucked somewhere inside these pages. Maybe not the affluence, the family legacy, or the seemingly bottomless bank account -- but the emotional terrain. The fear, the bewilderment, the instinct to shield your children at all costs? That part is universal, and Belle Burden captures it with a clarity that stings a little.

I’m honestly not sure why some readers have decided to pick this memoir apart. It is a memoir; one woman’s lived experience, filtered through her own feelings, opinions, and hindsight. You have to give an author grace for that. She’s not writing a legal brief; she’s writing from the rubble of her own life.

What surprised me most was how much I enjoyed this book, especially the way Burden threads in those osprey metaphors. They’re subtle but purposeful; little markers of instinct, survival, and the long arc of rebuilding. I found myself pausing at those moments, thinking, Oh, that’s clever… and also painfully true.

And then there are the well meaning but unintentionally brutal comments from friends. We’ve all heard versions of them. People try to say the right thing, but divorce is a kind of death, and just like with death, most folks don’t know how to show up gracefully. Burden captures that awkwardness with wince worthy accuracy.

This is a quick read, but it’s a heavy exhale one. You move through devastation, confusion, the slow unfurling of growth, and finally resilience. It’s not tidy, and it’s not meant to be. It’s a memoir of someone trying to make sense of a life that suddenly cracked open, and somehow finding her footing again.

I really appreciated this book. It sits with you in that quiet, honest way memoirs sometimes do, offering recognition without judgment and reminding you that rebuilding is rarely linear, but always possible.